It’s funny because Octava, the Blot, and by extension the whole Menagerie Megaverse plot came from Dave hassling me about how I dressed his characters a couple of comics before the one you linked
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Only James knows if he’s happy with it, but it looked okay to me? I’m assuming “the Weather Witch” is a change from Tempest because of some existing Sentinels character?
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And yet, those had big impacts going forward. Funny how that works. 
Yeah. Would be quite the double take if I said one of Mercury’s parents was Tempest when the SOTM crowd this as Tempest:
Would fit James’ current character though.
I went with Weather Witch because of some old notes based on this post that list her as a weather manipulator (and maybe confused her with also weather manipulator Oya’s epithet). Hardly set in stone yet, so if another name would work better, I leave that to the crowd.
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Mutant: “I’m Negasonic Teenage Warhead”
Kitty Pryde: “we really have run out of names”
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Yeah Harry’s mom, while still a speedster, is more specked into the weather manipulation side of things. Wind generations, some lightning. Maybe in a past life she was a scientist (maybe even got her powers that way), before teaming up with her husband.
Weather Witch may be leaning too far into that when she’s at her base a speedster. Marketing is important after all. You call yourself a weather witch and suddenly people start calling you to put out fires and stuff. Which I mean, she can do, but people expect her to summon a storm cloud or something. I’m trying to think of other kinds of weather storms with high wind. Besides like Tornado which is too basic. Windstorm, maybe, though a bit on the nose. Possibly Cyclone.
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Hmm, you make a good point about branding. Given that they’re the Gale family, and she’s Helen Gale, maybe we just go with Gale or The Gale as the hero name too and just double down on comics long history of paper thin secret identities.
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See. I literally thought of that, but dismissed it as just, so obvious. Although… Looking at my archaic pre session 0 and not been touched since notes, her (maybe maiden) name is Helen Swift and his is James Quick. With no indication of where Gale came from. So thanks for that past me. Unless someone with more wiki skills than me can find a later name for them.
I will admit I could see a funny scene where it was his last name and she used Gale as a hero name before meeting him. And in some hero team up he tries flirting with her all “I’d love give you more than just my last name.”
She immediate changes her hero name.
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Coming from a long history of pro wrestling fandom, I would not find it too unusual that Helen’s “stage name” of Helen Gale overtook her real name once hers and Silver Streak’s identities were revealed. Similar to actor’s with stage names, once her secret identity’s revealed, it’s not “Oh, so Helen Gale is really Helen Swift!” but instead “Oh, look it’s Helen Gale!” “Actually my last name’s-” “Miss Gale, sign this!”
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Or it’s all a string of AEGIS aliases to protect the family members who don’t have powers and don’t want to get involved, like that third cousin Harry remembers meeting at a family gathering held in a secure location
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Or the step behind the comic meta that asks what are the odds that all these speedsters would have last names directly relating to their powers.
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Time to talk about card games again, folks.
So last time I talked about Mercury’s deck being finished up and, as of last Saturday, it’s now live on the Handelabra game. Honestly this could have been done back in February or March, but I was waiting for my collaborator Tesla (who did all the programming for Mercury’s deck) to release his own speedster hero deck, Skimmer so we could do a tandem release. Given the amount of buzz in the community about both these decks and speedsters in general (so, so many speedster themed games played) over the weekend, this seems like it was a good idea.
With all that caught up, let’s look to the future.
Concord’s hero deck is, currently, still a mess. Honestly, at this point I am considering getting someone else to make the deck just so that it is no longer an issue. I’ve got a few folks in mind and we’ll see how that all goes later.
Meanwhile, Clockwork is in what Bill has called “90% done” status. At this point it’s all over except to tweak some numbers and finish up the flavor (finalize placeholder names, add quotes, etc). You can see it here. Playwise, I’m liking where she’s at: an implacable force whose few cracks you have to attack if you want to win. Disruptive, hits like a truck, and no sells damage most of the time. Good final boss material.
Finally, I need to return to the Future Faire deck. The initial idea (each card giving you a pair of choices) was a little too half-baked and probably better suited elsewhere. Maybe a villain (for a series of sadistic choices)? Maybe the Newmen Duet deck (to represent either Link or Pneuma taking the lead)? Who can say.
I think a better idea for the deck would be to take inspiration from MtG Unfinity Attraction cards where everything has a special keyword text (Attract? Visit?) with maybe some spoiler effects (like “whenever you would activate another card’s ATTRACT text, instead…”) to mess things up. Given the temporal distortion theme of the deck, could lead to some fun.
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As I posted on the Discord server the other day, there’s a new villain on the mods and it’s not one of mine this time.
https://i.imgur.com/W8UHTa1.jpeg
Tombstone is a cowboy lich made by Gaist, who has cameoed a bunch of Menagerie characters in the past and has also included a few in Tombstone’s deck as well. Gaist also decided to include unique intro barbs against Charade and Ghost Girl, so it only seems right to return the favor and give the girls some unique replies instead of their default intro text.
Below is Gaist’s intros with some quick responses I came up with. Want to get some feedback on voice and tone before I go ahead and push out the update.
Vs. Ghost Girl
Tombstone: “Well I’ll be! Why don’t you join us, darlin’? I bet a bank vault’s a breeze for you!”
Ghost Girl: While I appreciate the offer, I must politely decline. Now I invite you to lay down your arms.
Vs. Ghost Girl, Magus of Many Worlds
Tombstone: "Are ya sure ya don’t want to sit this one out? I got questions I reckon’ you got answers to.”
Ghost Girl: I can offer insights into a great many things. Put away your guns and I may consider it.
Vs. Ghost Girl, Spirit of the Solstice
Tombstone: "Aw heck, how ‘bout you an’ yer bony friend there come on 'round and meet the gang!”
Ghost Girl: I must decline, Mister MacGraw. The light of the Solstice Candle has shown me your life of violence and deception.
Vs. Charade
Tombstone: "That’s a mighty fancy lookin’ pistol ya got there! But how well can ya shoot with it?”
Charade: Mission control warned me you were a mouthy one. How dreadful.
Vs. Secret Origins Alycia Chin
Tombstone: "You best git ‘afore the shootin’ starts darlin’, it’s about t’get real dangerous 'round here!”
Charade: Do not presume yourself the most dangerous one here, Mister MacGraw.
Vs. Gun Club Charade
Tombstone: “Don’t tell me ya brought a knife to a gun fight?!”
Charade: Tell me, skeleton, do you bleed?
(This is probably the most out-of-character one, but given the Gun Club’s entire gimmick is “Cheesy 80’s Action Movie versions of the characters” I think it works, but I’m open to suggestions all the same.)
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Almost too genteel? My thought, “You’re too kind. Might I suggest that instead we leave the money where it is and lock you up.”
I might just drop the “How dreadful,” which I cannot imagine Alycia actually saying. (If it needs further rejoinder, maybe add, “Regretfully they were correct.”
Make it an assertion. "You’re not the most dangerous one here, Mister MacGraw."
Yeah, it’s cheesy, but it almost works. I’m trying to work out instead a quip here along the lines of, “Pretty sure that’s all I need against a dandy like you.”
Just my thoughts.
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I might always default to “too genteel” when writing Ghost Girl. This isn’t bad, so I’m going to make the change.
This was definitely a quote that I thought would benefit from something like [Dramatic Sigh] “They warned me you liked to talk,” but I can’t do that with the setup available, hence the “How dreadful.” But if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
I think we can split the difference here. Something like:
Charade: I think it’s all I’ll need for you, Mister MacGraw. Tell me, do you feel fear?
Thanks for the input, Dave!
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Yeah, I’m back on my bullshit. This should surprise no one.
So after five years of making Sentinels of the Multiverse decks, I finally have a version of Concord that I’m happy with and moving towards completing. Hooray!
A basic rundown of the mechanic of the deck is that his cards have two effects: Flares and Burns. Flares are fairly small effects, about as powerful as a power. No issues. Burn effects, however, are bigger and splashier and come with a downside–destroying your setup. “Yeah, you could play it safe… but if you go big, you can come back from this, right?”
It works well in playtesting and it’s a style of play I enjoy, which has always been a big hang up when making Concord. It would either be something that didn’t work in play or something that I personally don’t enjoy playing. The struggles of game design, I guess. 
Now, however, we come to another nebulous intersection of needing to make decisions: giving the cards themes, flavor, names, and art. I have made a document to track what I have and find where there are gaps/overlaps. Worst thing is either that a player confuses two cards for one another or a player expect one thing (“This looks like an attack.”) and gets another. (“Oh, it’s card draw.”)
Everything is subject to change still, though I feel mostly settled on the card names themselves with one exception.
I’ve gotten some feedback from folks that they didn’t feel like Guardian-Class Agent was a self-protection card from a glance or that it didn’t match up with what they expected from that name. At least one person really preferred the original name–Inhuman Toughness–but I haven’t made up my mind on whether to change it or not.
As always, feedback or suggestions are always welcomed. 
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Agent Protection Protocols
Quote for “Unleash the World Seed”
“Agent, you are not cleared to access this artifact. Nobody is cleared to access this artifact.”
Art for “Empathic Acuity”
The back of Adam’s head in foreground, looking up at a rainbow of depictions of his mother. Each one has a color band behind them, corresponding with an emotion. Each one has a different facial expression but they’re otherwise identical. Adam is perceiving the range of his mother’s emotions, but mostly it’s anger and worry.
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